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Joey Barton and Damon Hill in the running for world’s richest sports book prize

STARTING LINE-UP FOR THE ‘BOOKIE PRIZE’ REVEALED

No Nonsense, the no-holds-barred autobiography by midfielder Joey Barton, one of football’s most controversial figures, has been longlisted for the 2016 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, sports writing’s most valuable and prestigious prize.

Joining Barton on this year’s longlist is 1996 Formula One World Champion Damon Hill for his autobiography Watching the Wheels, in which he writes movingly about his father Graham Hill, who died before he could see his son triumph in the sport he once ruled. Paternal relationships can also be found at the heart of two other longlisted titles: in ‘How’s Your Dad?’ Mick Channon Jnr tells of growing up in the shadow of a father who succeeded in not one sport, but two, and Dan Waddell offers an affectionate portrait of his father, ‘voice of darts’ Sid Waddell, one of sports broadcasting’s most fondly remembered figures, in We Had Some Laughs.

Elsewhere writers dig deep into their subjects’ histories to tell their stories as never before: Oliver Kay’s acclaimed Forever Young is about “football’s lost genius”, Adrian Doherty, who died aged 26, estranged from the game he once loved; Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge’s Chasing Shadows investigates the life and death of controversial cricketer and commentator Peter Roebuck; and double William Hill winner Duncan Hamilton takes on one of Britain’s greatest Olympians, Eric Liddell, in For the Glory. Continuing the Olympic theme, the Czech long-distance runner Emil Zátopek is the subject of not one but two books on the longlist: Today We Die a Little by Richard Askwith and Endurance by Rick Broadbent. This represents the first time two biographies about the same person have been in direct competition for the Prize.

While the books on the 2016 longlist cover nine different sports in total, including debut appearances from the worlds of surfing and darts, it is once again titles about football – the subject of 2015 winner The Game of Our Lives by David Goldblatt – that dominate. As well as featuring in No Nonsense, ‘How’s Your Dad?’ and Forever Young, the beautiful game is also the subject of Football’s Coming Out by Neil Beasley, the author’s account of surviving and succeeding as a gay fan and footballer in an often homophobic sport, and Mister: The Men Who Taught the World How to Beat England at Their Own Game by Rory Smith, which looks at how English football managers helped take the sport around the world.

Also making the grade are two titles with business at their core: in Mr Darley’s Arabian, Christopher McGrath looks at the history of horse-breeding by following the bloodline of 25 exceptional horses, while Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog, tells the story of one of sport’s most instantly recognisable brands – Nike.

Completing this year’s 17-strong longlist: William Finnegan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Barbarian Days, which chronicles the journalist’s long love affair with surfing; Diana Nyad’s memoir Find a Way, culminating in her record-breaking swim from Cuba to Florida, without a shark cage, at the age of 64; Anna Kessell’s timely Eat Sweat Play, an examination of attitudes to women in sport today, in which she explores sporting taboos including body dysmorphia, periods, miscarriage, sex and the gender pay gap; and The Belt Boy, by Kevin Lueshing, which charts the hidden torment behind the boxing champion’s rise to the top.

Mr Darley’s Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life – A History of Racing in 25 Horses by Christopher McGrath (John Murray)

Find a Way: One Untamed and Courageous Life by Diana Nyad (Macmillan)

Mister: The Men Who Taught the World How to Beat England at Their Own Game by Rory Smith (Simon & Schuster)

We Had Some Laughs: My Dad, The Darts and Me by Dan Waddell (Bantam Press)

William Hill Media Relations Director and co-founder of the Award, Graham Sharpe, said: “I’ve heard it said that 2016 is shaping up to be one of sports’ most exciting years. I’d add to that – I think this year can claim to be one of sports writing’s greatest years: this longlist is truly exceptional. We received 140 entries – a record for the Award – and it was tougher than ever to get down to this selection. It’s clear that the era of the macho facts and stats sports memoir is over and the evolution of sports writing continues; more than ever, this Award proves that sports writing is great writing – revelatory, compelling and important.”

The William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award is the world's longest established and most valuable literary sports-writing prize. As well as a £28,000 cash prize, this year’s winning author will receive a free £2,500 William Hill bet, and a day at the races.

The judging panel for this year’s Award consists of: journalist and broadcaster Mark Lawson; retired professional footballer and former chairman of the Professional Footballer’s Association, Clarke Carlisle; broadcaster and writer John Inverdale; broadcaster Danny Kelly; award-winning journalist Hugh McIlvanney; and The Times columnist and author, Alyson Rudd. Chair of Judges is Graham Sharpe, co-creator of the Award alongside John Gaustad, founder of the Sportspages bookshop, who retired following the 2015 Award and passed away earlier this year.

The shortlist will be announced on 18 October. The winner will be announced at an afternoon reception at BAFTA, in central London, on Thursday 24November.

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For further information, please contact Anwen Hooson, Jon Howells or Laura Curtis at